Key POV

“I can’t escape from this horrible broken dream that’s frozen into place

After leaving the apartment early before Jonghyun awoke this morning, now he was on his way to find Onew’s car. He had worked until late last night with some officers—sneaking from his apartment to get back into the office only because he needed to feed his curiosity—to track where Onew’s car probably was. It was quite a hard work, but they got something in return. Some officers had been sent to the field to interrogate some possible witnesses and they were being able to find the estimate location of their target.

“Aish!” Key ruffled his hair in frustration when the traffic light turned into red, trapping him in the crowd of the road this morning. It was quite early, where everyone just got to their office, but Key had already left his office.

“Jjong-hyung will be mad at me... Aaaaack!” He threw his back against his seat and grunted.

He did not leave any message or even memo for his hyung. He just left super early before his hyung noticed he woke up earlier than usual. His reason was quite simple, Jonghyun would not let him to search Onew’s car by himself, and for being honest, he did not even ask any permission from his boss to do so.

Curiosity is curiosity, he smiled when finally he could escape from the crowded road. Passing his apartment, Key was worried if Jonghyun probably was still there and saw his car passed by. It was a relief when he finally turned to the left.  After twenty minutes driving, he finally parked his car slightly far from the mentioned spot. He made sure that his car was easy to reach.

That place was very... dirty, like a dark, humid alley where witch and wizard might came un-expectantly from there—at least that was what in Key’s mind. His step was small, and slow, as if he was afraid if he would dirty his shoes with the mud which covered almost all the ground’s surface. He was wondering who might live in such disgusting place, but it was surprising that actually there were a lot of people who lived there.

Alright, calm yourself. You’re a forensic doctor. This is not a problem.

Key sighed and kept walking, scanning every single car which parked on there. He had a small note on his hand about the car’s specification, and most importantly; the license number. Probably it was a mere luck, but there were only five cars which parked there. But then he cursed inside because no license number was match with what he had, and no car’s specifications were match.

Not a problem. He repeated himself again as he turned to the other dark alley at the corner. This alley—different from the previous one—was narrower, more humid and darker. It was also obvious that there was barely anyone lived there. The alley was only few meters ahead before it came to its end.

Surrounded by strong, tall walls, the alley he just paid a visit was like a place where nobody had ever been there before. But surprisingly, at the end of the alley, an ugly inn grew out of the darkness, as if it resembled the dwelling of every single evil spirit. Key hesitated to move his feet any farther, but however—for not having Onew’s car seen by his very own eyes—Key could not help but stepping forward. He gulped. It was a bit creepy for him.

A place which looked like an inn from distance apparently was only a house, with a garage on the left side of the building. He did not know why but there was something inside him which told him to peek inside. Was this wrong? He wasn’t sure if this was what a detective like Jonghyun did when they gathered evidence, but it was funny if Jonghyun did so.

Letting out a low giggle, Key tip toed closer to the building. He tucked his hands into his coat’s pockets in attempt to reduce any voices he could make by swinging his fabrics in the air. After he reached at the terrace, Key looked around and found no one was around that place. So guessed it was safe to just peek inside.

His face got closer to the window, where the dust from ages had gathered there forming a very thick crust on the glass’ surface. Since then, the blonde just realized that this house was like... a mysterious place—and perhaps there was ghosts and—

Alright, you may stop thinking about insignificant matters! He reminded himself as he tried to brush the crust off of the glass surface. After it was clear enough for him to peek inside, Key narrowed his eyes as he tried to accustom his sight. It was dimly lit, and he could barely see anything inside. It was like if he watched a movie from the eighteenth century, where the color that he could see was only sepiaand some dust effect which bothered his sight.

But there was something strange lying in bed. Was that an inn? Or it was a mere house where the owner still aslept?Key decided to move away, checking his PDA. It was strange that his PDA told him it was the exact location. So the car must be around here. Somewhere—

The garage! He tip toed to the garage and checked its entrance. It was slightly opened, so that he could easily peek inside if he bended his body lower. He decided to do so, lowering his body and carefully entered his head into the small gap between the door and the floor. His cheek brushed the floor and he could feel he dust attached on his skin, making him squealed lowly for being disgusted by the dirt.

“Aishhh… this place is really dirty!”

In reflex, Key moved his body up, accidentally pushing the door up and made wider entrance for his body to pass the door. He opened his mouth in surprise because the door made a very noisy sound, before a grin decorating his face. It made this infiltration much easier. He crawled inside and when his body was fully in, he stood up and dust-off his coat.

There was no much difference between the garage and the previous room he was peeking. But perhaps the garage was a bit darker. He could see nothing, only some random things lied carelessly on the floor which the effect of getting small light from the gap made between the floor and the door.

Key checked his PDA, using its screen’s light to illuminate his surroundings. His eyes still tried to accustom its sight from the change from high quantity of light outside to the very lack of light inside the garage. He pointed his PDA at his surroundings, and his eyes widened in sudden when he finally found something he was looking for.

A car. It had the exact specification, and more importantly, the exact license number. His hand stretched forward, touching the surface of its body. Cold and clean. It was quite the contrary to be compared with the place where it’s been kept. Key made sure it once again that it was the exact license number, so he bended his body and lit the plat with his PDA.

Right, this one.

His finger danced above the keypad and for the final touch, he hit the send button, and the message was sent to Kim Jonghyun, his partner.

Hm… so Onew must be somewhere in this place…

Without thinking any further, Key stepped toward another door behind the garage, reaching at the bronze handle. He opened the door which led him into another room. Just like the other rooms, the room he just entered was dimly lit. He used the light from his PDA’s screen as the source of light to illuminate his way, finding the room where that boy he had seen before from the terrace probably in.

Beep. Beep. Key looked at the screen and cursed lowly. The stupid PDA decided to die on him. Well, nice timing! He supposed to send another message to Jonghyun, telling him that this place was probably where the culprits hid. But having his battery out, all he could do now was finding where Onew was and waiting until Jonghyun found him.

When he stepped closer to another door, he could hear someone groaned lowly, perhaps because he was being tortured or something. Key tip toed again close to the door and pushed it lightly as it wasn’t closed. It was surprising to see someone—no, but two people were inside that room. The one was someone lying on the bed, and the other one was on the floor, groaning.

“Hey, hey! Are you okay?” Key ran into the one who was on the floor.

“Uh—help me—” His voice cracked, apparently this man didn’t get water this 24 hours, and it was a very bad condition, where he could be in dehydration.

“Ah!” Key held his body and pulled him to stand, but he was too heavy. He just wanted to guide him to sit on the sofa instead. “What is your name? What are you doing here?” He asked.

“It’s Onew. Ah—please, water—” He leaned on Key’s body when Key guided him to the sofa.

“Sure, I’ll look for water for you. What are you doing here?”

“T-they—they tried to kill me—and that boy—” He pointed at the boy who lied on the bed.

Apparently the boy who was lying unconsciously in bed was Taemin, the boy who went missing two days ago. Key always believed in hi feelings about every single little thing. But the most important thing which had tickled his mind was not solved until now. It was about the anonymous letter. He just could not guess who probably had sent it to his apartment.

“Do you know that boy?” Key asked curiously.

“N-no, I don’t…” Onew answered, his face was pale.

Hang on… It was the last words he remembered he had said to someone named Onew, before he felt a hand covered his face. There was no scent left, but a sudden dizziness attacked his head and it was like his nerves had been hit by poison which could stop its work. Key fell to the floor, and then he did not remember everything happened after that.

Now he found himself, lying on the soggy bed. His breath was heavy and his eyes barely saw anything because of the darkness. After five minutes accustoming his eyes to see through the darkness, he finally realized that he was trapped in a small room. The wall was cracked here and there, and his clothes had been ripped, only his jeans was left.

“Sheesh… where am I?” Key held his head and looked around. The room was perfectly locked. He walked toward the door and tried to turn the doorknob but nothing’s happening. The door did not show any sign that it could be opened. It was locked from the outside.

And his PDA was gone.

“Damn… Oh God… Jonghyun hyung help me!” He growled in frustration as he banged his hands against the door.

Help me.

Author's Note: If you notice that the I used the different font for my banner, uh well... I just lost a lot of font in my computer and I'm too lazy to install it again. Lol. Please enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to write your comment! Much appreciated <3